Alice Oswald

Fox

I heard a cough
as if a thief was there
outside my sleep
a sharp intake of air
 
a fox in her fox-fur
stepping across
the grass in her black gloves
barked at my house
 
just so abrupt and odd
the way she went
hungrily asking
in the heart’s thick accent
 
in such serious sleepless
trespass she came
a woman with a man’s voice
but no name
 
as if to say: it’s midnight
and my life
is laid beneath my children
like gold leaf
Other works by Alice Oswald...



Top